Chapter 696: The Power Network of Update and Iteration
In the Ninglan Realm.
Due to the multiple school unified exam, this matter has been announced throughout the city and in various shelters and refuges.
Some activity restrictions have been imposed on ordinary residents, akin to a military exercise level of management.
Certain special wilderness areas and mountainous regions outside the city have been marked, with warnings for residents not to enter, effectively establishing no-go zones.
This special hunting period lasts for seven days, and it can be said that all areas of the Ninglan Realm have been notified, even spreading like wildfire across the Plant Network.
Those causing trouble or not complying with the rules during the hunting period will have to bear the consequences themselves; if innocents are affected, they can directly apply for hunting-related disability compensation.
During this period, the collection of mutated beasts and other hunted prey killed by exam students in the Ninglan Realm will be handled by specially hired local professionals.
During transportation, exam students are prohibited from directly or indirectly affecting these people with combat.
Of course, there is another group involved in the transport of mutated beast carcasses, consisting of higher-year students from various academies, typically sent to retrieve those hunted in rugged areas that ordinary people find hard to access.
This task is posted on the academy’s task board, with rewards not particularly generous.
This is because students who choose such tasks do not need many rewards; they are all eager participants wanting to feel involved and enjoy themselves.
After all, exchange events are usually for lower-year students, and the higher-year students have been watching enviously.
Moreover, this is being broadcast live, and some may sign up for this task simply to make an appearance.
At this moment, we are still wandering around the marketplace.
At this stage, we have completed our choice of profession, and I have also opened my skill tree.
The mage skill tree has ten skills, with the first skill “Fireball Spell” being lit up initially, and this Fireball Spell will be the mage’s only strong offensive means early on.
Yes, the skill tree is not fully opened from the start; it needs to be gradually unlocked, and unlocking skills costs “points.”
This means the more points you accumulate, the stronger you become until all ten skills are lit up.
However, for us teaching assistants, it’s not that complicated because we do not need to accumulate points.
We only track the number of exam students killed to unlock the skill tree.
For example, I start with one initial skill point; then the beginner’s guide lights up Fireball Spell, consuming one point, and the second skill requires two skill points, meaning I need to k*ll two students to unlock.
The third skill requires… three points.
Seeing this, I breathed a sigh of relief, thankfully it isn’t exponential; otherwise, to unlock all the way to the end, at least… a quick calculation shows I would have to k*ll over five hundred people!
That would drive me insane from killing for seven days straight, right?
But thankfully, it’s not like that.
I clicked through and checked until the last skill, and it turns out it only requires ten skill points in total.
Nonetheless, the number of people I need to k*ll is still considerable. Although many are participating in the unified exam, without overwhelming power, you can’t expect to single-handedly mow them down.
Even if all the skills are unlocked, it’s still not easy to crush the opposition.
How should I put it?
I hope that after this unified exam, if any teaching assistant doesn’t unlock all their skills, they will probably be ridiculed for life.
Aside from those skill trees, weapons are also a significant concern.
When working on the Wanlian Main Network Tree, due to various restrictions, we had to divide professions, and because of the skill tree, casting spells requires extra media as a prerequisite.
Hence, equipment is very important.
Poor-quality equipment might blow up upon use, so there’s a specific value in identification magic used to describe this weapon’s sturdiness, which is called the equipment’s “durability.”
“Speaking of which… it seems like the contract doesn’t restrict us from using our own weapons.” Li Feiya suddenly said while browsing the “Equipment Market” with me.
“But it does restrict those activating-type weapons and one-time alchemical items, etc., used for cheating, so it’s better not to think about loopholes,” I reminded her.
“Why not exploit loopholes? This is beneficial for oneself! Since it’s a rightful claim, it should be defended to the d*ath!” Li Feiya said with righteous fervor.
“That’s where the contract falls short; it specifies what we should or shouldn’t do through moral judgments rather than simply exhaustively listing limitations which always leave room for loopholes.”
“Ah～ don’t think so much～ What if they encourage everyone to find loopholes? Don’t make the conversation so stiff, Xiao Han, what weapon are you planning to use?”
“Me? If nothing unexpected occurs…” At this moment, I took out a box of books, “I’ll use this.”
“Oh! I knew it! I heard you named this book ‘The Persuader,’ right?” Seeing the box of books, Li Feiya immediately became excited and wanted to examine it closely.
“Its name is Box of Books; the moniker ‘The Persuader’ is more of a joke, actually. It did help me persuade quite a few people back then.”
“This book is about to become your hallmark! I feel you’ll initiate a trend of using books to hit people in the Witch Academy!”
“Blindly following trends isn’t good, but if they insist on it, I can’t be bothered.” I said as I took the box of books back from Li Feiya’s hands.
“Let me see it again~”
“What’s so fascinating about a weapon? You should be thinking about how to present yourself.” As I said this, I cast a Power Network identification spell on the box of books in my hand; currently, its durability limit is…
“???”
This indicates that the durability of the box of books has exceeded the upper limit of the Power Network information grading, meaning that the skill tree’s ability medium can hardly inflict damage on it.
Or even if it does cause some damage, the self-repair of the box of books can immediately restore it to as good as new.
“I’ll just use my own magic wand~ But I also see many interesting casting weapons for sale here…”
“Then you can buy a few to try.”
“However, it looks like everything here is priced based on points; what about us teaching assistants?”
“Teaching assistants have unlimited supply privileges during this unified exam, which means they can take as much as they want, though maliciously using storage equipment to hoard is strictly prohibited,” I reminded her.
“Wow, it seems like being a teaching assistant is actually quite enjoyable~”
“You won’t feel that once the exam is over and you leave the city,” I said jokingly.
“What do you mean… oh! Indeed… So leaving the city isn’t just difficult; getting back in is hard as well!” Li Feiya said.
After all, strutting around in and out of the city would only draw everyone’s attacks, wouldn’t it?
“Actually, there’s a very simple method.”
“What method?”
“Being killed, and then during the hour after revival, you’re a non-hunting target, meaning you’re in a safe period. During this time, you can return to the city to purchase items, and then leave the city to temporarily escape the pursuit of hunting students,” I smiled as I explained.
As special hunting targets, teaching assistants cannot be exploited by students seeking to score points; the entire Expanding Realm is under the control of various Extraordinary Academies. Extraordinary Mentors will immediately appear before any student who dies in a hunt, including not just teaching assistants but also careless students, so some people will experience the real threat of d*ath during this hunt!
The revived teaching assistants have an hour of safety, during which other students’ attacks will be ineffective. Whether they are effective or not can be determined by whether the target has a “health bar.”
The design of the health bar is something Sister Agnes and her colleagues worked hard to present, truly reflecting the real passage of a person’s life.
There cannot be situations where the health bar empties, leading to forced d*ath, or someone on the brink of d*ath with their health bar stuck at the last moment without dying.
Thus, the safe period is a breathing space for teaching assistants. However, if they choose to attack during this time… the safe period will be immediately canceled, and the health bar will be displayed!
Therefore, there won’t be a malicious loophole that turns into an “invincible period” for teaching assistants.
After a “free” shopping spree, we wandered back to the square in Ninglan New City, which had already gathered a large crowd, filling the area almost entirely by class units, continuously guiding students to leave the city.
“For this final unified exam, you all need to prove yourselves! You also need to show the class’s spirit! I don’t care if you go solo or team up; targeting huntable targets for points is a good choice!”
“Do you see those two people? They are the special hunting targets you might encounter during this unified exam; they are teaching assistants from the Witch Academy. Just like you, they can only use the Power Network right now. My request isn’t high, just one k*ll per class; for each one, I will personally offer generous rewards…”
As I and Li Feiya were preparing to watch the show, the counselor suddenly called us out directly. Although they only said “those two,” it felt as if they were about to report our identification numbers…
At this moment, not only the class led by that counselor but also many other students were drawn to this “peculiar” commotion.
However, upon seeing the figure with white hair, a few instinctively shivered, with past experiences from the dream testing resurfacing.
Conversely, they did not have much emotional fluctuation towards Li Feiya, whom they barely knew, even seeming quite eager.
“Xiao Han, let’s go! If we don’t leave soon, I feel like we’ll be watched! That teacher is so awkward!” Li Feiya whispered, urging me to hurry away.
I too, tactfully chose not to linger any longer; staying any further would be looking for trouble.
“Forget it, Sister Xiao Han, let’s leave the city. I remember that using Extraordinary Powers inside the city seems not allowed; let’s try this spell outside.”
“Sure, let’s go.”
I nodded in agreement with the proposal. However, I still wasn’t too accustomed to the format of the skill tree, but I could learn more with each update.
For example, the casting of the Fireball Spell no longer felt as slow as before, and of course, its power has increased!
The very first player mastered the first spell, “Small Fireball Spell”; it still took a long time to cast, and the poorer the quality of the weapon, the longer the casting interval.
Now, the spell we have mastered has evolved; the prefix “small” has been removed.
Leaving Ninglan New City, we came outside, but there were still many exam students in the open area.
However, that wasn’t unexpected, so we moved to a further spot.
“Let’s give it a try; yours is also Fireball Spell, right?” I said, seeing that there weren’t many people around.
“Yeah, pretty much, but I still want to see you demonstrate it, Sister Xiao Han!”
“Alright, as you wish.” I took the box of books and held it in front of me, simply “casting the spell.”
Then, without needing any further action from me, countless Knowledge Power turned into runes and spell frames that formed a spell ceremony almost as tall as a person.
It seems the structure of the Power Network hasn’t changed in relation to my order.
At that moment, a fireball the size of a human head appeared in the center of the spell ceremony.
The size of this fireball seems to have reached the initial limits of the “Small Fireball Spell.”
However, it seems this isn’t over yet; it appears I can continue to charge; this charging could last about a second, and during this second, the fireball swelled from the size of a human head to nearly half a person in diameter.
“Wow! The power of the Power Network spell is terrifying! I was almost misled! Who said the spells from the Power Network are weak?” At this moment, Li Feiya exclaimed excitedly beside me; this Fireball Spell was already approaching the strength of her Fireball Spell from her spellbook!
“Indeed, it seems the power model of the Power Network is being updated and iterated quickly.” I too was surprised by the power of this Fireball Spell; although I clearly understand the progress, trying it out firsthand is still a completely different experience!
However, casting with the Power Network still has many “pain points.”
That is, the casting speed is much slower than with spellbooks; perhaps the gap seems bearable for a single Fireball Spell, but as spells develop, the gap continues to widen.
No wonder spell powers on the skill tree don’t seem very strong, and most are… effect-type spells.
For example, the spell following Fireball Spell is Ice Shield Spell; the first spell slot represents “Attack,” the second represents “Defense,” and the third is “Movement” or represents “Gale Spell” related to movement speed.
“Li Feiya, don’t you want to try casting and get used to it?”
“Me? I’ll pass. Ugh—this Power Network feels so awkward to use; it’s just not as convenient as a spellbook!” Li Feiya began to complain.
“It’s indeed not very convenient, but… this fixed attack mode is more about fostering strategic combat and training reactive thinking and control of battle rhythm.”
“Sister Xiao Han, can you really say this high and mighty about that? I feel this thing tends to produce a bunch of rigid thinkers and has no advantages at all! When faced with a spellbook, having that kind of rigid thinking will definitely lead to utter failure!”
“Well—it’s still in the testing phase, so there’s no need to think too much about the future. Moreover… the weak who don’t learn to adapt won’t benefit from any method. A true strong individual can extract nutrition from any limitations; learning has never been solely dominated by environmental factors; one must at least take responsibility for themselves.”
“Sister Xiao Han, you’re starting to preach again; I can’t win against you in this area—let’s go, let’s go! While there’s still time, I’ll pick a good spot to camp and have a barbecue, welcoming the fate of being hunted tomorrow!”
“Don’t be so pessimistic; maybe we are the ones hunting them?”
“Sister Xiao Han, that’s a real confidence boost!”
